Parental presence: why it works

It’s a newer-style approach to settling babies and helping them learn to self-soothe, but the “parental presence” settling philosophy has been based on research and evidence.

That’s the pledge of NSW’s parent education centres Karitane and Tresillian, which are committed to helping sleep-deprived and stressed out new mums and dads.

Monica Hughes, Karitane’s Manager of Education and Research, and a child health nurse, says there’s a lot more research being done into the best way to settle babies and the impact and effectiveness of different methods.

“We would never advise a parent to let their children become distressed in the hope they will just cry themselves out and fall asleep,” she says. “We now know that this can be quite detrimental for a baby’s social and emotional development.”

“Karitane was involved in research into settling babies and from this has arisen the parental presence approach, something we’ve worked on together with Tresillian.”

The basic premise of parental presence is that research has found that this strategy, which involves a parent staying in the room and providing the minimal amount of reassurance necessary to give their baby a chance to learn to fall asleep by herself, can be useful for children aged from six months to two years.

What the research says

A study published in the journal Early Human Development in 2011 found parental presence was as effective as controlled crying when it came to teaching a baby to go to sleep.

Researchers found nearly half of the respondents reported improvements in their child’s sleep problems after using either technique.

“The research has shown that this is an effective strategy. But we also know it’s not for everyone,” she says. Find out if you and your family could benefit from the parental presence approach.

Monica stressed that the style of settling often referred to as “controlled crying” had not been promoted or supported by Karitane for many years.

“We encourage parents to throw away the clocks and instead listen for their baby’s cues and understand their cries,” she says. “We don’t advocate parents waiting a certain amount of time before they can comfort and reassure their baby.”

Reassuring and comforting

These are words Monica uses to describe why parental presence is a successful method for some babies.

“These babies respond well to knowing that their emotional and social needs will be met by mum or dad if they become distressed,” she says.

“This helps them build the confidence to learn to go to sleep by themselves and, if they wake, to self-settle.”

She says that having mum or dad in the room with baby is reassuring, especially for a baby who may not have been separated from a parent to go to sleep.

As for seeing their parent “sleeping” in the same room, Monica says this is “good role modelling” for the baby.

Must-read “sleeping through” facts

Think every baby is sleeping through? Read these facts and figures gathered from various studies before you start to think your non-sleeping tot is unusual.

Half of babies aged under 15 months still wake at least once a night.

95 percent will wake crying in those first few months.

Even at a year old, half of babies will require parental intervention to get back to sleep after waking.

A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year.